Anthology
titles are always a mixed bag and Anomaly is no exception. An interesting
mix of super-hero tales, alternative strips and Twilight Zone style fare,
most of the stories live up to the promise of the impressive cover but a few
don’t quite make the grade.

The issue starts with a
super-hero tale entitled “Sting of the Scorpion" written by Ellen Topkis
and illustrated by Fabian Chow. The art is professionally done and the story,
although wide open for more adventures, was complete. On the down side, the word
balloon placement in this story was sometimes confusing and I found myself
re-reading panels to get the correct dialogue order. I also would have preferred
a more of an introduction to the main female super-hero character but to be fair
that might have been covered in a previous issue’s story.

The
fourth story, “Hero Is a Four-Letter World” was the standout of the bunch.
The artwork by Seaward Tuthill, although sketchy, reminded me of the art in the
love story comics I used to read as a kid in the 1970s. The writer, Dennis
Shumate, gives the reader a satisfying tale involving a seedy private
investigator and an upstanding super-hero who has gone over the edge.

“The
Hitch” by Dan Hoagland involves the passing of the torch from one worn-out
former tights wearer to a new generation. The idea and execution were
competently done and with more practice Hoagland’s pencils could be quite
good.

Johnny
Lowe contributes several strips that would fit right in with your local
alternative newspaper but seemed out-of-place in this anthology. He also wrote
the SF inspired short, “Upgrade.” Richard Garcia pencils and inks the story
quite ably with polished and professional looking art.

The
final story entitled “A Christmas Story” and written by Caleb Gerard was
really more of an introduction to an ongoing story. Filip Sablik handles the
pencils and Katie Commodore the inks and give this anthology the most
professionally illustrated story. The premise (a man discovers that he’s dead
but still wandering around Los Angeles presumably to solve his own murder) was
interesting enough that a full issue could have been much more satisfying than
the intro we get in Anomaly.

The
weakest story of the issue was “The Sincerest Form of Flattery” penned by
Raymond E. Brown. It read like a surreal rejected X-Men proposal and even
has an appearance by Professor X and Scott Summers look-a-likes. The art by
Felipe Chow (pencils), Joe Needom II (inks) and Shane Colclough (inks) was also
the least polished.

Anthology
titles can be a tough sell for the simple fact that they can be so hit or miss. Anomaly
does give you more good stories than bad, however, and you also get a lot of
story pages for your buck.

If
you’d like to give this issue a try and can’t find it at your local comic
shop write to Caleb Gerard, 260 Alpine Street #6, Pasadena, CA 91106 You
can also e-mail for more information at cgerardj@aol.com.